Written Answers

Tuesday 7 March 2000

Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive (a) whether there is "no crisis" in the farming industry as stated in the recent report published by the Cabinet Office, (b) how it determines whether there is a crisis in the industry and (c) what its definition is of an industrial crisis.

Ross Finnie: The report referred to was a publication of the UK Government, not the Scottish Executive. The Scottish Executive acknowledges that agriculture is facing major problems, and many sectors and people within it are facing real difficulties.

BSE

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3934 by Ross Finnie on 7 February 2000, which waste-water works process waste from the two mammalian rendering plants at Inverurie and Newarthill, Motherwell, what treatment the waste receives and which contractors remove the waste from the water works.

Ross Finnie: The first plant, Dundas Brothers Ltd at Kintore by Inverurie, treat their waste on site using their dissolved air floatation and biological treatment plants. This produces a "float" (or "sludge") which is tankered by Dundas Brothers to Burnhaven, Peterhead where it is disposed of, under licence, to the sea via a six-inch bar screened outfall facility. This process is overseen by North of Scotland Water. Liquid waste is disposed of by Dundas Brothers into the River Don.

  The second plant, William Forest and Son (Paisley) Ltd, treat their waste at Daldowie treatment works, where it is subject to full tertiary treatment, including nitrification. The treated liquid effluent is discharged into the public sewer under consent issued by North Lanarkshire Council. Discharge is controlled by SEPA under a waste management licence. A contractor, Cunningham, removes the sewage sludge from the treatment works to the Mount Vernon landfill site.

BSE

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been carried out to determine whether condensate effluent from rendering plants associated with the BSE cattle cull is safe to apply to land as fertiliser.

Ross Finnie: The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) have considered the practice of spreading rendering condensate on land and have concluded that as a precautionary measure it should be discontinued on land where cattle may graze.

  The Environmental Agency published a report on the options for the disposal of treated effluent from a particular rendering plant in June 1997 which showed that all the disposal methods - including the historical method of disposal onto the land surface - present extremely low risks of exposure to BSE infectivity, negligible compared to other risks in daily life. An assessment of the risk using a set of pessimistic assumptions showed that the likelihood of the most exposed individual ingesting sufficient material in one year to cause infection was around one in 1,000 million.

  The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee have noted the methodology used in this report and is content with its conclusions.

BSE

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive to which Scottish sites the condensate effluent from rendering plants in the UK and Northern Ireland associated with the BSE cattle cull, including the over thirty months scheme, has been brought.

Ross Finnie: The Executive is not aware of any condensate effluent from rendering plants elsewhere in the UK being transported to Scotland for disposal. Enforcement of the relevant statutory controls is a matter for the appropriate local authority.

BSE

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which butcher shops, supermarkets or other retail outlets have received meat from abattoirs dealing with livestock brought up on farms, or other sites, which have been spread with condensate effluent brought to Scotland from Staffordshire.

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive to which farms, opencast sites, forestry sites or other sites in Scotland the condensate effluent from the Mammalian Rendering Plant in Staffordshire was brought, which contractor bought it, and which contractor was responsible for spreading it at these sites.

Ross Finnie: Officials in Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, the local enforcement authority for the area in question, are not aware of any condensate effluent being brought to Scotland from rendering plants in Staffordshire.

  Under the Fertilisers (Mammalian Meat and Bonemeal) Regulations 1998, it is an offence to spread mammalian protein derived from the rendering process on agricultural land.

BSE

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what research there has been to determine whether prions, thought to be the cause of BSE and new variant CJD, can be carried in the protein cell of plants.

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what research there has been to determine whether prions can be transferred from contaminated condensate effluent to cattle via plants or vegetation, when the research was conducted, by whom, what the results of this research were and whether these results are available to the public.

Ross Finnie: The Executive is not aware of any research in this specific area.

BSE

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive with reference to the disposal of waste from the two mammalian rendering plants at Inverurie and Newarthill, Motherwell at waste-water works, whether any of this waste water is disposed of on land and, if so, at which farms, opencast sites, forestry sites or other sites it is being disposed and which contractor is carrying out the disposal.

Ross Finnie: Neither of the two plants in question, Dundas Brothers at Kintore by Inverurie, or William Forrest and Sons (Paisley) Ltd at Newarthill, Motherwell, dispose of waste by spreading on land. Under the Fertilisers (Mammalian Meat and Bonemeal) Regulations 1998, it is an offence to spread mammalian protein derived from the rendering process on agricultural land.

  The Newarthill site does remove sewage sludge to the Mount Vernon landfill site for burial. There is also provision given under their Waste Management Licence for up to 600 tonnes of permissible effluent per day to be discharged to a mine shaft on site in an emergency situation.

BSE

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the spread of condensate effluent from rendering plants in Staffordshire on Scottish farms and sites, what is the destination of any produce from any of these farms or sites; which abattoirs have received any livestock produced from any of these farms or sites, and what has been the destination of any meat products processed from this livestock.

Ross Finnie: I refer to the answer given to question S1W-4627.

Concordats

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any Concordat already agreed, or in the process of discussion between it and Her Majesty's Government, will allow it to discuss with Her Majesty's Government issues arising from low flying military aircraft.

Henry McLeish: Yes. A bilateral Concordat between the Scottish Executive and the Ministry of Defence was published on 9 December 1999. The Concordat sets out arrangements for exchange of information and consultation on all issues of mutual concern.

Enterprise

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what contact it has had with Enterprise Ayrshire regarding the future of the Volvo factory in Irvine.

Henry McLeish: My officials have been in regular contact with Enterprise Ayrshire and Locate in Scotland in an attempt to secure a continuing engineering operation on the Irvine site and will continue to meet with local interests regarding the future of the site. The most recent meeting of officials took place on Wednesday, 23 February 2000.

Environment

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it proposes to take to tackle the effects of water pollution from agricultural sources.

Sarah Boyack: A consultation paper will be released today on regulatory powers for SEPA to prevent and control agricultural water pollution. The new regulations would extend SEPA’s powers to allow it to serve notices in relation to silos, slurry stores and agricultural fuel storage tanks requiring farmers to address problems causing pollution or which may cause pollution. The new powers will also allow SEPA to require the preparation and implementation of a Farm Waste Management Plan. The regulations would also simplify controls to encourage repairs to agricultural storage facilities and prevent water pollution, and remove controls where there is no evidence of a significant pollution risk, such as a 30-day notification period for making bulk-bagged silage.

  SEPA forecast that, on present trends, diffuse agricultural pollution will, by 2010, be the most important cause of downgrading in river quality. It is also a significant threat to the quality of bathing waters, and I announced on 18 February that the Scottish Executive has commissioned research to examine the effects of farm practices in that area.

European Funding

Ben Wallace (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4167 by Mr Jack McConnell on 16 February 2000, what legal status and terms of articles of association organisations must have and what activities, broken down by the general subject areas covered by Objective 2 and Objective 3, they must be involved in to be eligible to apply directly for European Structural Funds support.

Mr Jack McConnell: European Structural Funds support is provided to public sector bodies, including the higher and further education sectors and to voluntary organisations, industry training organisations, registered charities and Trusts, where their memoranda and articles of association are focused on actions in support of economic and social development.

  Project applications for both Objective 2 and Objective 3 must be eligible within the rules as laid down by the EC Council Regulations. Applications are considered on their merits in light of the set criteria agreed by Programme Monitoring Committees.

European Funding

Ben Wallace (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive to provide a breakdown of the (a) Objective 1; (b) Objective 2 and (c) Objective 5b Scottish structural fund payments received from Her Majesty’s Treasury in each year from 1996 to 1999.

Mr Jack McConnell: Payments received from the European Commission via the Bank of England and Treasury were as follows:

  





£ Sterling

  






1996*

  

1997

  

1998

  

1999

  



Objective 1

  

43,559,706

  

18,406,782

  

57,027,107

  

12,120,275

  



Objective 2

  

154,475,536

  

52,548,874

  

27,581,266

  

53,658,049

  



Objective 5b

  

16,016,369

  

18,176,519

  

9,925,675

  

11,418,794

  



Total

  

214,051,612

  

89,132,175

  

94,534,047

  

77,197,118

  



  *Calendar Year

  The payments are a mixture of payments on account and the balance of final claims due so far for the 1994-99 programmes. As such, they are not directly comparable to either the commitment or grant expenditure figures for the programming period to date.

Health

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria will be used to decide on the location of the centralised children’s cardiac service.

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has been any estimate of the impact on other services provided by Yorkhill NHS Trust should children’s cardiac services be re-sited in Edinburgh.

Susan Deacon: I refer the member to the answer given to S1W-1613.

Health

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what specific extra funding provision has been made to health boards to allow them to carry out mass flu immunisation.

Susan Deacon: The cost of flu vaccine is met by health boards from the overall resources made available to them to meet their responsibilities. The question of which groups should be immunised is addressed each year by the Chief Medical Officer. He identifies the groups at risk and recommends that they should be immunised.

  Currently, immunisation is recommended for the following groups:

  those of any age with a chronic heart or chest complaint including asthma, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, lowered immunity due to disease or treatment such as steroid medication or cancer treatment, or any other serious medical condition;

  all aged over 75;

  people living in places where there is a high risk of influenza spreading quickly, such as long stay residential accommodation.

Health

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any representations from the Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) campaign in Scotland and whether it will meet representatives of CRY to discuss screening for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and other related matters.

Susan Deacon: I can confirm that the Scottish Executive has received representations from the Cardiac Risk in the Young Campaign about the introduction of population screening for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

  I intend to write shortly to CRY about the advice received from the UK National Screening Committee on the subject.

Health

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number of patients per general practitioner is in (a) urban areas, (b) rural areas and (c) island communities.

Susan Deacon: The information requested is as shown in the table.

  Average number of patients per general practitioner in Scotland by type of area: as at 1 October 1998 (the most recent date for which complete data is available).

  (Patients per GP1)

  



Headcount

  

WTE2




Urban Areas3


1,500

  

1,579

  



Rural Areas4


1,134

  

1,201

  



Island Communities5


911

  

957

  



  Source: General Medical Practitioner Database, ISD Scotland.

  Notes:

  1. Vacant posts for GP principals and the patients attached to these posts have been included in the calculations.

  2. Whole Time Equivalent.

  3. Data for "Urban Areas" are based upon practices in which one third or fewer of all patients on the practice list as at 1 October 1998 were classified as rural patients on whom calculations for Scottish Rural Practice Fund Payments are based. Island health boards are excluded.

  4. Data for "Rural areas" are based upon practices in which more than one third of all patients on the practice list as at 1 October 1998 were classified as rural patients on whom calculations for Scottish Rural Practice Fund Payments are based. Island health boards are excluded.

  5. Comprises Island health boards (Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles).

Human Rights Act

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has provided or intends to provide any guidance to local authorities as to the application of the provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998 to the statutory functions of local authorities; if so, when such guidance has been or will be issued and whether any such guidance will be made public.

Mr Frank McAveety: Guidance on the Human Rights Act, in the form of a booklet A New Era of Rights and Responsibilities: Core Guidance for Public Authorities was issued to all local authorities on 1 February 2000. This guidance is also published on the Internet and copies are available from the Scottish Executive.

  The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities also intends issuing their own guidance in due course.

Lone Parents

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the average disposable income of a couple with two children is the average disposable income of a lone parent.

Ms Wendy Alexander: According to combined data from the Family Resources Survey for 1996-97 and 1997-98, the median disposable income of lone parents in Scotland was around 40% of that for couples with two children in Scotland. Income is from all sources including employment, Social Security Benefits and investments. Evidence suggests that some items of income may be under-reported in the survey, particularly for self-employment and investment income. Estimates are subject to sampling error and to variability in non-response.

Millennium Volunteers Programme

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many millennium volunteer projects have been approved in (a) Renfrewshire and (b) Scotland.

Jackie Baillie: No applications have been received from projects in Renfrewshire. To date 42 projects have been approved in Scotland.

Prison Service

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what is the highest number of category A prisoners which have been detained at Bowhouse Prison, Kilmarnock at any one time and what is the current number of such prisoners detained.

Mr Jim Wallace: No category A prisoners have been detained at HMP Kilmarnock.

Public Relations

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its total spending has been on (a) internally sourced and (b) externally sourced public and press relations services since 1 July 1999 broken down by department.

Donald Dewar: The running costs of the Scottish Executive Information Directorate for the period to 28 February was £1,212,745, and for the press offices of the Scottish Prison Service and Historic Scotland £126,000 and £80,000 respectively. No external public relations services were used during the period.

  Advertising campaigns carried out on our behalf by contracted agencies were:

  

 
 

£

  



Education 

  Department

  

Child Care

  

81,000

  


 

Teacher 

  Recruitment

  

100,000

  


 

Children’s 

  Panel Recruitment

  

122,000

  


 

Total

  

303,000

  



Justice 

  Department

  

Domestic 

  Violence

  

445,000

  


 

Electoral 

  Registration

  

26,000

  


 

Fire Safety

  

144,000

  


 

Total

  

615,000

  



Health Department

  

Food Safety

  

22,000

  


 

Flu Advice

  

90,000

  


 

Total

  

112,000

  



Development 

  Department

  

Road Safety

  

461,000

  



Historic 

  Scotland

  

Promotion 

  of Properties

  

145,000

Stalkers

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to establish a register of known stalkers and, if so, whether it will detail any organisations it has consulted or intends to consult prior to its establishment and any representations it has already received pertaining to the matter.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Executive has given a commitment to review how the justice system in Scotland deals with stalking and harassment. We intend to issue a consultation paper in March seeking views on how we can offer greater protection from stalkers. We will consult widely and will consider any suggestions, including the need for a register of convicted stalkers. To date we have not received any representations about such a register.

Transport

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has determined to undertake the construction of the A77 upgrade between Fenwick and Malletsheugh as one discrete public-private partnership project or whether it will be combined with the Glasgow Southern Orbital Road project.

Sarah Boyack: I refer Mr Neil to my answer to question S1W-4300.